Volume 4: The Revelation Unveiled Chapter 510: The Taiji Diagram

Hou Tu and the others stood on the west side, closer to Yin and Yang. Hearing Yin and Yang’s roar, they hurriedly retreated. Guanyin was by Yin and Yang’s side, who did not hide either. They stretched out their hands to create a barrier, protecting themselves and Guanyin inside.

Laojun was closer to Xuan Nu. Still concerned about his peaches of immortality and elixirs, he was pulled away by Xuan Nu. Only Ling Bao was slightly slower to dodge, and the ripples hit him. His movements stalled, his complexion flickered, and soon he felt extreme suffocation. He forced down the surge of blood rising to his throat, filled with shock.

At this moment, Wukong was unaware of what was happening outside. His entire focus was on his dantian. He dared not get distracted because the Hunyuan Dao Fruit in his dantian had disappeared. Only two leaves, one black and one white, remained—the black leaf slightly larger and the white leaf slightly smaller—stationary in his dantian.

Where had the Hunyuan Dao Fruit gone? Wukong searched his body but found no trace. Creation energy continued to flow in, causing the white leaf to grow endlessly. His body already contained abundant creation energy. After passing through the now-empty dantian, it was compressed into even denser energy that adhered to the white leaf before gradually merging with it, indistinguishable from each other.

The vast amount of creation energy in Maitreya’s lotus platform delighted Wukong. For him, creation energy had no hierarchy, no difference in density, and no distinction between Buddhism and Taoism. Once it entered his body, it became his own.

The entire lotus platform absorbed energy for half an hour. Once Wukong had gathered all the energy within it, the black and white leaves finally became the same size. At the same time, the two leaves unfolded on their own in Wukong’s dantian—the black leaf tip touching the white leaf tail, and the white leaf tip touching the black leaf tail—as if chasing each other, slowly rotating.

This rotation triggered a long-forgotten image in Wukong’s mind: the Taiji Diagram of the Realm of Good and Evil. Taiji? A Taiji formed by opposing creation energies in his dantian? No, it was only similar for now. The true Taiji Diagram had black within white and white within black.

As this thought crossed his mind, the black and white leaves suddenly stopped. At that moment, the creation energy around him surged, causing those watching to scatter in panic.

Why did it stop? Wukong was puzzled. His cultivation was changing rapidly, and he didn’t know where he would go next. To his surprise, at the center of the black and white leaves, a black-and-white sphere of creation energy began to appear.

Was this… the Hunyuan Dao Fruit? Where had it been hiding earlier?

The Hunyuan Dao Fruit was originally five-colored, but now it only had black and white. The five elements were all mixed together, and it was unclear whether this was a good or bad thing. Wukong did not dare to act rashly and instead focused inward in silence. He saw that the creation sphere remained motionless and unrotating, yet an internal force of pulling emerged from within. After some thought, Wukong suddenly realized what he was thinking about—since the Hunyuan Dao Fruit already combined positive and negative creation forces, if he could also merge those two forces together, might he be able to wield all his powers in the space of negative creation? But why did the Hunyuan Dao Fruit seem to want to separate these forces? How had they been combined in the first place? The five-colored creation, the Hunyuan Dao Fruit, the black-and-white creation sphere… By connecting these points, Wukong gradually sensed that the formation of the black-and-white creation sphere was likely closely related to the five elements. Yet this was merely a guess; at least for now, he could not think of a way to verify his idea. His body was still filled with positive creation forces, and when he tried to summon negative creation forces, he could only use a tiny amount. This tiny amount of negative creation force was extremely powerful in the ordinary world, but it became insignificant in the space of negative creation. Since entering that space, Wukong had paid less attention to the world around him. His greatest desire now was to go to the top of the furnace to see if he could open its lid and escape completely! The realm of good and evil, the Taiji diagram—black within white, white within black… Wukong couldn’t help but think that since the black-and-white creation sphere seemed to want to separate on its own, why not actually separate it, then merge the white creation into the black leaf and the black creation into the white leaf? It was a sudden idea; no one had guided him, but he instinctively wanted to do it. Wukong knew somewhat about the principles of Daoism—having read various books in his past life and debated with figures like the Three Pure Ones in this world, his understanding naturally surpassed that of ordinary people. “The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao.” Although the Three Pure Ones created the *Tao Te Ching*, in Wukong’s view, their understanding of Daoism was not yet complete. The realm of good and evil in the three realms was confined to good and evil alone, creating an ideal world where evil existed within good and good within evil. But what about the true meaning of Taiji? In the Taiji diagram, black and white represent yin and yang, as well as heaven and earth. Yin and yang, heaven and earth, qi and ken, positive and negative, good and evil… All relative and contradictory things in the world can be derived from Taiji.

All things in the world are but yin and yang; the black dots in white represent yin within yang, while the white dots in black represent yang within yin. The principles of yin and yang are vast, encompassing almost everything. But what Wukong understood at this time was yin and yang as positive and negative forces of creation.

The principles of the Taiji are unparalleled to the extreme; it can be extended to fill the entire universe or retracted and hidden within the heart. Seeing a half-finished Taiji diagram appear in his dantian, Wukong gained a deeper understanding of the phrase “retracted and hidden within the heart.”

Good! Since he thought so, he decided to give it a try. Wukong directed his mental energy to enter the sphere of creation, only to find that as soon as he touched it, the creation energy within him began to flow rapidly out and be absorbed by the sphere. Though it was being absorbed, the size of the sphere remained unchanged.

Determined, Wukong thought, “Let it be. If it wants to absorb my creation energy, let it.” But with all the creation energy in the lotus throne already absorbed, was there any left for it to use?…

After that tremor of unknown force, Yin and Yang said to everyone, “It’s not safe to stay here any longer. Please move away.” Their words weren’t just polite; Wukong was in extreme danger at the moment, and even they couldn’t figure out what was happening.

Although worried, the others knew they couldn’t help much here. If anything really happened, perhaps only Yin and Yang had the right to intervene. So one by one, they left, not even Xuan Nu staying behind. Only Yin and Yang remained, guarding Wukong, who sat with closed eyes by the banks of the Tongtian River.

Guanyin handed over the colored lotus flowers from the Seven Treasures Pool to Yin and Yang and also headed west. Seeing that Wukong was in deep meditation and that it would be difficult for them to take action to reclaim the creation energy, Yin and Yang drew out the energy from the colored lotus flowers and poured it into Wukong’s Niwan Palace.

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This time, Xuan Nu did not return to the Jade Pure Palace but went to Qitian Ridge. On Qitian Ridge, everyone took their respective positions, and Xuan Nu went straight to look for Wang Yu. When Wang Yu saw her, he was naturally delighted. He said, “Master, how do you think my God-Slaying Circle turns out?”

Xuan Nu replied, “Show me by practicing it.” With a wave of his hand, a faintly glowing white circle flew out from behind his head, while three sharp swords stood beside him, representing heaven, earth, and humanity.

As he displayed his powers, Xuan Nu suddenly felt an invisible pressure and, with a wry smile, stepped back, saying, “Stop practicing. Be careful you don’t destroy the entire mountain.”

Wang Yu smiled sheepishly. Although he had been at the level of Heavenly Sage for some time, he had never sought an opponent and usually didn’t dare to use excessive force. At such a realm, a mere wave of his hand could cause mountains to crumble—who could withstand that?

Xuan Nu said, “You remade that broken sword, and it has taken shape. But I wonder what difference there is when the Four Swords of Exterminating Immortals are combined.”
Wang Yu replied, “I’ve also been pondering this. If the Divine Slicing Circle were remelted as well, it could form a great sword formation. But this circle is so useful that I really can’t bear to part with it.”
Xuan Nu thought for a moment and said, “If you want to delve into the art of formations, it’s necessary to seek advice from the Supreme Yuan Shi.”
Wang Yu said, “I’ll remember that.”
Xuan Nu then asked, “How is the Intelligent Divine Ape now?”
Wang Yu replied, “He’s still in seclusion!”
“Still not able to break through this barrier?” As soon as these words left her mouth, Xuan Nu realized she was getting impatient herself. The threshold to Heavenly Saints was actually not that hard to cross—what did just forty years matter?
Wang Yu said, “Master, you may not know this. The reason we were able to surpass the realm of Saints in just three hundred years was due to the great assistance from Yin and Yang. Otherwise, it might take another thousand years.”
Xuan Nu asked, “Is the Intelligent Divine Ape suffering so much because he lacks enough fate?”
Wang Yu shook his head and said, “It’s not that. The fate brought by Yin and Yang is sufficient, but without their guidance, the Intelligent Divine Ape can only study on his own. As for the four of us who just entered this realm, we don’t have much to offer him either.”
Xuan Nu hummed in agreement. She had come specifically to ask about this matter. Now that Wukong was in seclusion, and with Yin and Yang as guardians, it was unclear when they would emerge. If Wukong wanted to break through, it might take a thousand or eight hundred years.
What worried Xuan Nu the most was the Great Sun Tathagata. If he appeared at this time, things would truly get chaotic.
As this thought flashed through her mind, she saw a dark cloud passing over the western sky. Finding it strange, she quickly used her secret Xuan Kong technique to observe closely.
Immediately, Xuan Nu’s expression changed drastically as she exclaimed in shock, “The Buddhist hell?”